CHAPTER VII
BOBBY AND BILLY PUT THEIR HEADS TOGETHER
Oh, if we but always knew
What to do or not to do.
Billy Mink.
When Billy Mink cried “Stop!” Bobby Coon stopped. He stopped with one paw lifted and just ready to put it down in the middle of the little opening in that fence which had so puzzled him. He turned his head to look back at Billy Mink. “Why should I stop?” he demanded, and he spoke rather crossly.
“Because, if you take one more step ahead, it will be the last step you ever will take,” snapped Billy.
Bobby didn’t take that step. Instead he backed away in such a hurry that it really was funny. You would have thought that he had burned his toes. Then he turned to face Billy Mink. “What sort of nonsense is this?” he growled. “I don’t see anything wrong.”
Billy grinned. “You may not see anything wrong,” said he, “but if you had put your foot down in that little opening you would have felt something wrong. Yes, indeed, you would have felt something wrong! You certainly would. There is a trap hidden there. I suspect it was set for me, but I guess the trapper who set it would almost as soon catch you as me.”
Bobby Coon blinked and looked very hard at Billy Mink to see if he were fooling. When he saw the angry red in Billy’s eyes, he knew that Billy wasn’t fooling.
“Goodness, that was a narrow escape!” exclaimed Bobby. “I’m ever so much obliged to you, Billy Mink. I hope that some day I can do something for you. If you hadn’t happened along to-night, I guess I would be in a terrible fix right now. Do you suppose that trapper built that little fence?”